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Where the Spirit Lives poster

Where the Spirit Lives (1990)

A moving tribute to a young girl's courage and indomitable spirit...

In 1937, a young First Nations (Canadian native) girl named Ashtecome is kidnapped along with several other children from a village as part of a deliberate Canadian policy to force First Nations children to abandon their culture in order to be assimilated into white Canadian/British society. She is taken to a boarding school where she is forced to adopt Western Euro-centric ways and learn English, often under brutal treatment. Only one sympathetic white teacher who is more and more repelled by this bigotry offers her any help from among the staff. That, with her force of will, Ashtecome (forced to take the name Amelia) is determined to hold on to her identity and that of her siblings, who were also abducted.

Release: 1990-06-06
Runtime: 96 min
Rating: 6 / 10
Cast
Michelle St. John
Michelle St. John
Komi / Amelia
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Kim Bruisedhead Fox
Anataki
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Marianne Jones
Komi's Mother
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Gus Chief Moon
Ka - moos - ee
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Clayton Julian
Pita / Abraham
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Margaret Cozry
Grandmother
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Marge Fox
Anataki's Mother
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Ann-Marie MacDonald
Kathleen
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Sean Mulcahy
Priest
Sam Malkin
Sam Malkin
Mr. Crawford
Doris Petrie
Doris Petrie
Miss Weir
Chapelle Jaffe
Chapelle Jaffe
Miss Appleby
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Tina Louise Bomberry
Asst. Supervisor #2
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Barbara Wheeldon
Matron
John Friesen
John Friesen
Mr. Babcock
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Heather Hess
Rachel
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Cynthia Debassige
Esther
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Franklin Doss
George